Power being restored after disruption caused by Storm Chandra | UK News

Homes are being reconnected to electricity following a day of disruption across Northern Ireland due to Storm Chandra.

At the height of the storm, thousands were without power and more than 350 schools closed.

The M1, which had been partially closed due to flood water between junction six Saintfield Road and junction eight at Blaris, has now reopened.

A yellow rain and wind warning remains in place across Northern Ireland until midnight. The Met Office has also issued an ice warning across Northern Ireland from 03:00 on Wednesday until 10:00.

At least one person has been injured during the stormy conditions, with a woman taken to hospital after a tree fell on a car in Lisbellaw, County Fermanagh.

The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) said the incident happened in the Snowhill Road area at about 08:18 GMT on Tuesday.

Police said that the woman’s injuries are not believed to be serious. The Snowhill Road remains blocked by fallen trees and should be avoided by motorists, they added.

Katesbridge experienced so much rainfall in the past 24 hours that it has not only set a new daily January rainfall record, but also its wettest day on record overall.

The County Down weather station measured 100.8mm of rain between 09:00 BST on Monday and 09:00 on Tuesday.

The site normally records 82.15mm during the entire month of January.

The previous January record stood at 38.2mm, set on the 15th January 2005, with the site being in operation for 42 years.

With four days still remaining in the month, rainfall totals at the site have already reached 197% of the January average.

Peak wind gusts on Tuesday morning reached 81mph (130km/h) at Orlock Head on the Ards Peninsula. The following gusts were also recorded:

• 64mph (103km/h) – Magilligan, Derry
• 63mph (101km/h) – Ballypatrick, Antrim
• 59mph (95km/h) – Castlederg, Tyrone
• 58mph (93km/h) – Aldergrove, Antrim

Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) said that at lunchtime on Tuesday about 3,800 properties were without power, down from a peak of about 10,000, and they had been escalating their response since the early hours.

At 16:00 GMT that number had dropped to about 2,000 without electricity.

“As we carry out repairs there is a chance that customers could experience temporary outages as the team isolate areas of the network to make them safe to restore,” a spokesperson said.

“We are carefully reviewing Met Office weather forecasts and there may be further outages this evening due to increasing wind speeds.”

A number of roads across Northern Ireland have been closed due to flooding and other storm-related incidents, with police advising motorists to exercise caution.

Translink warned that due to poor weather conditions, passengers should allow for delays and possible disruption to their journey, with speed restrictions in place on all train lines.

A number of services have been affected, including the cross-border Enterprise service to Dublin which is operating a bus substitution service between Newry and Dundalk.

Other train services and some bus routes have also been affected, with Translink advising customers to check their website before travelling.

Translink said on Tuesday afternoon that Lanyon Place station in Belfast will be closed for the remainder of the day.

Two men living in Antrim had to be rescued after they were trapped in their home when the downstairs flooded.

Video footage from inside their Riverside home showed water levels reaching just below the window sill, after the the Six Mile Water River burst its banks.

David Letherman told News NI it was frightening to see water come into the house through the door.

“I’m just in shock of it happening today,” Letherman said.

Joanne Elder, a member of the Riverside-Massereene Street Residents’ Association, has been living in the area since 2006.

“The first big flood that I remember was back in 2008, I think a lot of people would remember that and there was a lot of houses flooded here, both in Riverside and Massereene Street,” Elder said.

She said the flooding on Tuesday is “not far off 2008”.

“It just feels that we reach another crisis and it becomes a crisis where everybody is sort of then running around. There’s no coordinated approach,” she said.

Elder has been in contact with a number of political representatives.

“Don’t get me wrong they’ve been good in the sense that some appear down and they’ve been making calls and they’ve been ringing DfI rivers and roads, etc.

“But we’ve got two gentlemen now who are in their property, stranded, not able to get out,” she said.

“There seems to be a lot of folk appear and there’s a lot of talking but nothing actually done.

“We don’t even have, for example sandbags, up at this end of the road.”

Martin Fallon lives on the Antrim Road near Belfast International Airport. His garden is flooded but, so far, his house remains intact.

Martin and his wife have been placing sandbags at a neighbour’s door where water is now gathered inside.

He said the water has been “quite high” at his neighbour’s front door.

“It’s very deep, a good couple of feet.”

Fallon said his neighbour has been mopping up inside while he tries to clear water away outside.

“There’s a grating that keeps getting covered in leaves and branches, it’s never getting emptied so water comes over the top and just floods straight through.”

He added this is the worst it’s been in six or seven years.

Houses in Culcavy, County Down, have been at risk of flooding after a nearby river burst its banks on Tuesday afternoon.

David Dunlop, a farmer based in the area, said he used a digger to create dams out of soil to try and redirect the flooding from the houses.

“I think we just saved them and no more,” he said.

“There’s one house certainly was within an inch of getting flooded.”

Killylea Road was among the areas badly affected in Armagh on Tuesday, where a number of houses were flooded as a result of high levels on the River Callan.

Pauline Quigley spoke to News NI outside her home at St Patrick’s Park in the city, where the water is nearly knee deep.

“I want a wall along the back of the houses to prevent water coming in from the river so this isn’t happening all the time,” she said.

“We lost everything three years ago, everything had to be dumped.

“There is nobody running with sandbags to us.

“I’m getting angry now because I am fed up with it.”

All flights to and from Belfast City Airport were cancelled on Tuesday morning with some disruption to flights continuing in the afternoon. Passengers are advised to check the status of their flight with their airline.

Belfast International Airport said that Storm Chandra was causing delays to flights.

In a statement, it said that “arriving passengers may experience delays to disembark aircraft due to wind speeds”.

It advised any passengers planning to travel on Tuesday to check with their airlines for the latest flight information. It said updates will also be provided on its social media channels.

More than 350 schools took the decision to close on Tuesday.

All Belfast Met campuses are also closed, with classes moved online.

The South Eastern Regional College (SERC) has also chosen to close its campuses while Ulster University is closing its Belfast, Coleraine and Jordanstown campuses.

In the Republic of Ireland, the electricity provider ESB said on Tuesday afternoon that about 5,500 homes, farms and businesses were without power, down from a peak of 30,000.

Dublin Fire Brigade said they have responded to a number of flooding and water rescue incidents – with motorists taken to safety after they became trapped in floods.

A Status Yellow rain warning has been issued for counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Louth, Wexford, Wicklow and Waterford.

A Status Yellow wind warning has also been issued for the entire country.

There have been multiple road and school closures in County Wexford due to the river Slaney bursting its banks.

Enniscorthy town has been badly hit with about 30 homes and 20 businesses affected.